August prices, Great Lakes region

The U.S. ferrous scrap market has essentially traded sideways. It may be too early to judge how much traction these prices will have with the trade. There was disagreement over sideways prices in certain district as dealers sought an increase of $20/gt on prime grades and $10/gt on shredded and other obsolescent grades.

However, with demand for finished steel languishing, especially for HRC, the mills collectively stuck with sideways pricing and scrap settled at this level. A handful of mills did initially raise prices on #1 Busheling but quickly adjusted once they saw others were sideways. Most buyers felt that, with melt rates declining and with some mills staying out of the market or buying very little, they could buy their necessary tonnage without any increase in prices, even if some suppliers resisted. There were reports of some upward movement on #1 HMS in the Great Lakes region since this grade had been woefully underpriced for the last few months.